Catherwood LibraryILR School

Long used to a forty-four-hour workweek that includes a half-day on Saturday, Korea has over the past year moved towards the five-day, forty-hour standard, pushed by the demands of labor unions and the realities of international trade in a world where most major businesses are unavailable on weekends. Under legislation proposed by the Labor Ministry and currently before the National Assembly, public corporations and companies with over 1,000 employees would be required to adhere to forty-our workweeks next July, with the regulations eventually extending to companies with at least 30 workers in 2006. Opposition from business interests that view a forty-four-hour workweek as vital to Korea?s continuing economic development, and from labor unions who object to phasing in the regulations and the Korean president?s sole authority over extending the regulations to companies with less than thirty employees, may still sink the legislation, however.